For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Soper's Farm Stand
It's true, I did say that I was going to go to Soper's Store, and then CJ reminded me it would be closed on Memorial Day. Well, I still haven't gotten there, but I did go by the Soper farm where they have a stand.
The farm stand has been the subject of a bit of talk 'round The Corners. There's hardly anyone in town who doesn't have a vegetable garden or chickens. And there's almost no one from away who has reason to pass through Rawson's Corners.
People wondered to whom old Mrs. Soper intended to sell her produce. She brushed it off, saying that she'd be growing things anyway, and the hens would be laying, and any little bit of pocket change from the stand would always be welcome. Mrs. S was a girl during the depression and remembers well the deprivation that folks felt.
Still, Mrs. Twombly says it's like taking eggs to Newcastle, and she's very pleased with herself for saying it.
Today the study of the Soper Farm Stand got started. I'm not quite sure what I'll do with the right-hand side, but it's coming along. Possibly, just to the right of the barn door, there's a glimpse of Mrs. S herself.
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Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Rawson's Redux
Bear with me, dear Readers, but I want to post five of the Rawson's Corners studies again. These were taken with a real camera and, though far from perfect, are closer to the originals.
The originals are 8"x12" (20x30cm) and so these are about half-size.
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| Rawson's Corners Depot |
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| The Old Hayes Place |
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| The Caleb Hayes Place |
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| The Elliott Martin Farm |
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| Jensen's |
A friend has suggested that there's a book in the Rawson's Corners idea. But then I'd have to include the 1931 double murder.
There will be more of Rawson's Corners coming along, but tomorrow it's time to paint the surf at Ogunquit with Toddy.
There are already sign-ups for the September workshop in Ogunquit.
The June 28th workshop is filling nicely.
Anyone interested in the June 7-8 workshop needs to step lively. Write me: dbjurney@verizon.net
Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Back in The Corners
As I said I would, I had a look around The Corners yesterday. Curtis Jensen told me that maybe Soper's Store wouldn't be open, it being Memorial Day, and he was right.
So, though sorry I couldn't get a burger at Soper's, I headed uphill to the Jensen place.
Old man Jensen made a fortune in graphite and charcoal before he came to The Corners, and used his money to build one of the few brick buildings in The Corners as his home. He wanted to make a splash and he did.
His grandson operated a still in the woods behind the barn. He was an artist and I guess one doesn't have to say any more.
Although not quite finished (and a particularly bad photo--blurry), here's the state of the current study of Jensen's place (8x12" - 20x30cm).
I'll be headed out to Soper's Store tomorrow.
**********************************************************
Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Moseying Around in The Corners
Here are a couple more spots in Rawson's Corners. They are both studies, 8" x 12" (20x30cm).
First is the old Hayes Place. This is the older of the two strains of the Hayes family in Rawson's Corner, having arrived in the 1870's.
Caleb Hayes, whose house and barns were featured yesterday, was listed as a seed merchant in the 1910 census. Caleb served, if not with distinction, in the First World War. At its conclusion, he married a French woman, bringing her back to Rawson's Corners. As you might imagine, Mademoiselle from Armentieres had some difficulty settling into the rhythms of local life. The estrangement between the older Hayeses and Caleb probably began with his marriage. The events of 1931 sealed the break.
Further along Ridge Road is the Elliott Martin homestead. Martin bought the farm as a very young man from old Farmer Batch.
This study is just begun. More will happen.
Tomorrow I expect to be up at Jensen's----either that or around the corner at Soper's Store.
***********************************************************
Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Rawson's Corners
William Faulkner, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949, invented a county in Mississippi in which he set the stories of many of his best-known novels. Yoknapatawpha County defined the edges of his characters' lives.
Many other novelists, of course, have invented places which have become, in the popular mind, as vital as any real place.
Thinking about this as I began my current series of 8"x12" panels, I began to develop one thread of images which started to form an idea of a small rural town named Rawson's Corners.
Rawson's Corners is, of course, merely a metaphor for all the small, sleepy, rural places. A lot has happened there to mould the collective psyche and not all of it is 4H and apple pie.
I imagined it to have been originally served by the railroad, but eventually the passenger service, and then the freight, were discontinued. The interstate highway comes no closer than forty miles.
About 1920, with half the farmers' sons who served in the First World War not returning, whether by loss or by choice, Rawson's Corners began its hundred-year decline. For a moment, in 1931, it made the national news as the scene of a never-solved murder.
Today it slumbers on, not changing much, as season follows season. Its story, in studies, is one I'd like to tell.
Here's an 8"x12" study of the Caleb Hayes place (Hayes&Co. Seed).
Yesterday's Rawson's Corners Depot is another view in town.
I'll keep you posted as I wander 'round the town. My aim is to show those who haven't been there what it's like.
***********************************************************
Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
For information about the Plein-air Workshop in Holland, please visit www.donaldjurneyworkshop.blogspot.com
Some of what's been happening
There's no question that I've been very remiss in keeping up with my blogging. It's true, I seem to have been particularly busy, but I've really no excuse. This post will be a real salmagundi of items.
The photos will be poor, and small, and I apologize. They are mostly phone shots edited for Instagram. By the way, you can see a new sketch/painting everyday on Instagram. Have a follow at @donaldjurney .
First off, the Dead Paintings Society demo I did for last weekend's plein air class. Saturday morning it was pouring and so we started in the studio. I did a two-hour resuscitation on a painting----which is still not quite right. It does have a bit more color than this photo might suggest, and it does, actually have a sky, too.
Another one that I may not have posted is an imaginary scene in Holland.
And this, also imaginary, Dutch scene:
Then there was a winter scene from imagination.
I decided to make some small studies. I ordered 50 1/8" 12" x 16" baltic birch panels from Dick Blick. I cut them in half, yielding 100 8" x 12" panels, and I primed them. Here they are under a couple of iron weights from my Hughes easel.
I've been having great fun working on these studies. In particular, I can stop on a panel when I've got the feeling I want, without worrying about whether it's "finished". It's a good way to encourage yourself to experiment with things.
Here's one.
And another.
Classes:
Two-day Weekend Workshops
7-8 June 2014
28-29 June 2014
Contact me about these dbjurney@verizon.net
The Ogunquit Summer School of Art
Ogunquit, Maine
Two two-day workshops
14-15 August 2014
27-28 September 2014
Contact them at 603-819-9100
Those interested in an ongoing weekly class should contact me. dbjurney@verizon.net
